Shootout win

They knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as the 10-1 drubbing they laid on the Nipissing Lakers on the night before.

But after taking a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, the Lakehead Thunderwolves weren’t expecting to be trailing when the second period entered its final two minutes.

Thankfully for their now five-game winning streak, they found Friday’s energy before it was too late. Brennan Menard fired a wrist shot through Kyle Cantlon’s five-hole to tie the game 3-3 with 70 seconds left in the middle stanza.

The third period and overtime solved nothing, but Matt Caria and Adam Sergerie proved to be the difference in the shootout, netting goals on the Wolves first two shots. Second-string goaltender Kyle Moir didn’t make the same mistake as Cantlon, stopping Grant McGee and former Thunderolves forward Ryan Maunu to earn Lakehead its fifth straight triumph. 

A frustrated Caria, who missed two brilliant chances from point-blank range late in the third, said he’s been working on his shootout move all season long, for just such an occasion.

“It’s a move that I’m comfortable with. I knew all along that I was going to that. It’s a little fake backhand, go forehand to just get it over the goalie’s blocker,” Caria said.

The Sault Ste. Marie native said they got exactly what they thought out of Nipissing (6-6-2), a team nursing its wounds after Friday’s blowout loss.

The Wolves were guilty of taking things too much for granted in the second, after building a 2-0 lead in the first.

“Whenever you beat a team the night before 10-1 with such a gap, players think the next night might be as easy and a couple of bad habits transfer over. I think we played better late in the game. It took awhile to get into it, but we found a way to win and four points (this weekend) is huge,” Caria said.

Menard said the way they won at Fort William Gardens showed a lot about the team’s character, adding it’s a game they might have lost earlier in the campaign.

“At the beginning of the year we were up and down, but we’re really starting to find our rhythm now,” Menard said. “We’re a good team, we know that, it’s just about showing it every single night.”

Once it again on Saturday it was a case of the Wolves (9-4-1) building a lead, figuring the game was in the bag and trying to coast home on past achievements, said coach Joel Scherban.

The Wolves had a scare early in the first, when defenceman Pierre-Marc Guilbault crumpled to the ice after being checked in the head by Nipissing’s leading goal scorer Dan Watt.

Watt was booted from the game, and Guilbault went to hospital with a probable concussion,but Lakehead was unable to capitalize on the ensuing five-minute major, despite a flurry of shots on Cantlon, who faced 45 shots on the night.

Lakehead finally solved the former Marathon Renegades netminder at 12:55 of the opening stanza, when rookie Ryan Magill fired a bullet pass from behind the net to the stick of Brock McPherson, who wristed it past the helpless goalie in a blink of an eye.

Devin Welsh was the surprise goal scorer who doubled the LU lead at 18:26 of the first, taking a similar pass from Gamache and willing it home.

It was just his second of the season and fifth in his four-year career in Thunder Bay.

But thesecond year Lakers, who coach Mike McParland said bore no resemblance on Friday to the team he’s used to icing, showed they weren’t about to give up Northern Ontario supremacy without a fight.

“They showed a good reaction in the second period, scoring three goals to take the lead back. Unfortunately the last goal for Thunder Bay, off the faceoff, that was a little bit easy. But that’s hockey. It was a good game and I’m just happy with our effort tonight,” McParland said.

Leading point-getter Andrew Marcoux responded first, taking a pass from Ryan Maunu that he fired home behind Moir 3:13 into the second. Maunu, who had two points in 13 games for the Wolves in 2006-07, was in on the go-ahead goal as well, circling the LU net and dishing it off to Kevin Rebelo to lift Nipissing up 3-2.

The go-ahead goal came 38 seconds after Dorian Peca had tied the score.

LU coach Joel Scherban gave his opponent credit, and said he tried to tell his troops the slate had been wiped clean after Friday night’s win, but they just didn’t get the message soon enough.

“I don’t think our mentality was right. We talked about it before the game with the coaching staff with the players, that Nipissing was going to come out hard and we couldn’t go through the motions. We had to play our best tonight. And I thought we played well for most of the third period, but I didn’t think we played particularly well in the first and second.”

Claw marks: Lakers forward Chad McQuaid is the younger brother of Boston Bruins defenceman Adam McQuaid. The P.E.I. native has one assist in 10 games with Boston ... Scratches for the Wolves were Arron Alphonso (injury) and Mike Thibert (healthy) ... Welsh matched his career high with his second of the season. He also scored twice in 2007-08 ... Lakehead finishes first half play against Concordia on the road next weekend, but will play a pair of exhibitions at Fort William Gardens against Regina on Dec. 3 and 4.

First period
Scoring: 1. Lakehead, McPherson 6 (Magill, Sergerie) 12:55. 2. Lakehead, Welsh 2 (Gamache, Hyvarinen) 18:26. Penalties: Watt NIP (checking to head, game misconduct) 4:26, Hogg LAK, Ryan NIP (tripping) 6:43, Ryan NIP (cross checking), Cantlon (roughing, served by Maunu), McDonald LAK () 15:06

Second period
Scoring: 3. Nipissing, Marcoux 9 (R. Maunu, Gray) 3:13 pp. 4. Nipissing, Rebelo 3 (Marcoux, Moreau) 4:55. 5. Nipissing, R. Peca 4 (R. Maunu, Gray) 5:43. 6. Lakehad, Menard 2 (Wilkins, Hogg) 18:50. Penalties: Smith LAK (elbowing, unsportsmanlike conduct) 0:46, McQuaid NIP (tripping) 16:13.
 
Third period
Scoring: No scoring. Penalties: Sergerie LAK (hooking) 8:42. .

Overtime
Scoring: No scoring. Penalties: None.

Shootout
Matt Caria (LAK): goal
Grant McGee (NIP): miss
Adam Sergerie (LAK): goal
Ryan Maunu (NIP): miss

Game Data – SOG – Nipissing 12-15-7-3-37, Lakehead 23-11-10-1-45; Power play (goals-chances) – Nipissing (1-2), Lakehead (0-3); Goaltenders – Nipissing: Kyle Cantlon, Lakehead: Kyle Moir; A: 2,607.